Clement & Emily

Thanks for sharing George! Enjoyed your photo chronicles very much Wish you success in this long process.

Take a look at this thread - http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14102 Many CFL members including us have stayed at Mr. Yang's apartment. Depending on your needs, he has various apartments of different sizes and configurations. While most CFL members sweared by Mr. Yang's hospitality, honesty and services, a few sweared at the lack of cleanliness, his integrity, and even accused his wife of theft! I for one had no issue with Mr. Yang whatsoever.

The "Kitchen Sink" so often referred to in CFL forum is the documentation you've prepared and organized prior to your SO's interview - in addition to what GZ has already asked for or required. The supporting documents may or may not be needed but you have no idea what a particular VO will ask for during the interview. Do a search in CFL forum and you'll find a thread regarding what are the things suggested and/or highly recommended to be part of the Kitchen Sink. A note of caution to your SO - do not give the VO anything he/she did not ask for. Handing over the Kitchen Sink to the VO if not asked for may result in delays or even a blue slip! The Kitchen Sink is an insurance (not guarantee) for your SO as well as yourself - that you folks have done everything possible to prepare for the interview. All that's left for your SO is to put her best foot forward, be confident, positive and be ready for anything during the interview.

10 days ? why so long ? We spent a total of 10 days in GZ. Fortunately everything went smoothly without a hitch. Here's how it went: Day 1: I arrived in GZ from SFO on a Thursday evening. Took a cab to Mr. Yang's apartment. Day 2: Emily and Jay arrived in GZ from Chongqing around noon. Took a cab to Mr. Yang's apartment. Attended ACH in the afternoon just to show my face and asked a couple of questions. Day 3: Saturday - Shop, eat, sight-see, relax and sleep! Day 4: Sunday - Shop, eat, sight-see, relax and more sleep! Day 5: Monday morning -- Mr. Yang's assistance escorted us to the GZ Hospital for Emily and Jay's medical check up. She was with us every step of the way until it's over at around 3pm. Day 6: Mr. Yang graciously reviewed the "Kitchen Sink" documentation I've prepared. He told us we were extremely well prepared and organized - thanks to CFL! Day 7: Wednesday morning - Went back to GZ Hospital to pickup the results/papers. More shopping in the afternoon. In the evening practiced interview with Emily. Reviewed all documents one more time. Day 8: Interview Day- Had a good breakfast. At 6:55am, took the elevator down to 1st floor, make a left turn and within 90 steps we arrived at ground zero. A long line has already started outside the consulate building. Emily got the pink slip at 1:45pm. Day 9: The Day After - Celebrated Emily's pink slip by having a dim sum feast. I had to return to the GZ consulate in the afternoon for ACH - to ensure they separate Emily's K-1 and Jay's K-2 package because we planned for Jay to join us 4 months later. The consulate staff was more than happy to accommodate our request. Day 10: We arrived at the designated Post Office at 8:45am to collect Emily and Jay's passport/visa/package. Once the package was in hand, I Immediately book Emily's flight to SFO - same as my return flight. We took the 5pm flight back to Chongqing. ---------- Chongqing Day 1: Helped Emily to start packing. Had farewell lunch and dinner with friends and families. Chongqing Day 2: Shipped 4 large boxes of Emily's stuff to California. Last minute shopping and still more packing. Chongqing Day 3: With Emily in my arms, we boarded the flight bound for San Francisco at the new Chongqing International Airport. --------- As you can see from above, depending on what day the interview falls on and if you intent to attend the ACH, you need to plan for extra day(s) at GZ if necessary. Some waited longer than 3 days to collect the passport/visa/package after the interview.

I'm afraid no food is allowed on the 5th floor. However they do have a water cooler Emily and Jay were up there for 6 hours before being called to the window for the actual interview. Make sure your SO has a decent breakfast that morning!

Thanks Clement for the info but please don't tell me about a possible six hour wait ... I'll pace a groove through the floor in six hours B) I can't imagine how crazy that must have made you feel, glad you guys got the pink to sooth the wait. I'll be sure to stay away from the spaghetti The 6 nail-biting hours I've waited at the 4th floor coffee shop (from 7:45 am - 1:45pm) on that fateful Thursday was an experience of joy, pain, tears, laughters, denial, disappointment, sadness, resolute, satisfaction, ending for some and/or the beginning of another journey for many...all of these sights and sounds combined was almost overwhelming! Let me explain... While I was waiting in the coffee shop, I made a point to start a conversation with anyone (also waiting for his/her SO) willing to talk. Since I could speak in several Chinese dialects as well as in English, I started a group discussion involving several Americans as well as Chinese. We learned about each other's journey leading up to the interview, shared our memories, hopes and plans for the future. All this time we would see people coming down for the 5th floor, some holding the blue slip, a few with the dreaded white slip but the majority came in pink and the million dollar smile. There were also vultures circling and waiting to prey on those with the blue or white slips; offering "legal" consul. A few blue and white slip recipients stop by to talk to our group. The pain and anguish felt by the OP/SO reverberated through each of us. Fortunately everyone in our group got the pink slip. I felt honored to share their joy and congratulated each one with all my heart. By 1:44pm, I was the only one left in the coffee shop. The waiter stayed away from me because I was pissed with the spaghetti and that frozen piece of rock - a.k.a dinner roll, compliments from the non-existent chef! I stood up and walks towards the bottom of the escalator. From the corner of my eye suddenly I saw 2 shadows of something emerging from the security door at the top of the escalator - it was Emily and Jay!. They look rather tired and deflated. As they stepped onto the escalator, I caught a glimpse of pink behind Emily's back followed by a smile of a million suns breaking out from the love of my life. All at once, as if a heavy load I've been carrying unexpectedly lifted off my back, tears fell freely on my face as I danced the moonwalk on the smooth white marble floor to a song sung from the bottom of my heart. After many kisses and hugs, Emily said to me with some urgency "Lao Gong...I am very hungry, let's go and eat rice first!" Later that night Emily reminded me I should keep my day job and not do the moonwalk again Amen to that.

Good show Bill! Congratulations are in order for you, Angel and Peter!! I noticed you are in Santa Clara. Perhaps when Angel and Peter join you in the near future, we could have another SF CFL celebration. Emily and I are in San Leandro while Gino and Lulu are in San Mateo. I believe there are other couples in the bay area but not sure exactly where. BTW, great posting!

The coffee shop on the 4th floor has comfortable seats and tables for you to relax and wait for your SO to come down from the escalator with the pick slip in hand...however you'll need to buy a cup of coffee/tea or whatever. If for some reasons the wait is several hours (just like me who had to wait for 6 nail biting hours), the waiter would politely ask you to purchase another drink or something to eat. I ended up having a plate of truly awful spaghetti and 2 cups of espresso. The disappointment of the lousy meal quickly turned into tearful joy when finally Emily cruised down from the escalator while trying to hide the pink slip behind her back...but not her smile The coffee shop is the closest place you could wait in comfort unless you rather stand for X number of hours right by the escalator or wait at the other end of the 4th floor - some distance away. *To see your SO comes down from the escalator with a white slip - tells her that you are there with her and will be with her to overcome whatever difficulties lie ahead... **To see your SO comes down from the escalator with a blue slip - tells her that you are the ROCK and nothing will stop/prevent you both from getting the pink slip eventually! ***To see your SO comes down from the escalator with a pink slip and a blinding smile = Priceless!!

Here's how you can obtain good service from Mr. Yang if you think the service is not up to your expectation...this is from my personal experience in March of 2007 when we stayed at one of Mr. Yang's 2 bedroom apartment for 10 days... 1st meeting with Mr. Yang and wife - "Hello Mr. Yang, I've heard great things about you and Mrs. Yang on CFL. It's good to know you'll take good care of us...We are looking forward to see the beautiful apartment..." The washing machine wasn't working - Called Mr. Yang..."Hey Mr. Yang, your new washing machine is not spinning and is about to flood the kitchen floor, you might want to come and take a look." Within 5 minutes Mr. Yang showed up with his tool bag! Bathroom drainage clogged - Called Mr. Yang..."Hey Mr. Yang, the bathroom drainage is all clogged up and is stinking the entire apartment, do you have another apartment we can move to?" Within 5 minutes Mr. Yang showed up with his tool bag! Room cleaning service every morning - "Hey Mr. Yang, what time does the room cleaning lady comes every day? Do you mind accompany her to the apartment the 1st time so we know who she is?" Loaner Cell Phone - "Hey Mr. Yang, I heard from CFL we could borrow a loaner cell phone for a norminal fee." We paid 25 yuan for using Mr. Yang's loaner cell phone for 10 days. Visit Mr. Yang's office/apartment - We took the time to visit Mr. Yang's office/apartment once a day - just to say Hi or chat for a few minutes. Mr. Yang would always ask if there's anything we need. We offered to take them out for lunch or dinner but they turned us down every time. The bottom line is be nice, be gracious and be FIRM. Most of the time when you apply these "protocol" anywhere in China you'll get what you want.

Awesome dude! We are very happy for you both...looking forward to see you folks soon.

Fantastic! Have a long...long good life together!!

Thanks for the quick replies! Has anyone ever compiled a list of things to bring for K2 AOS interview?

Finally we received the interview notice for my son's AOS. The interview will on the 3rd week of April. What documentation do we need to bring?

We received our son Jay's EAD card on 1/19/08. We went to our local SSA office to apply SSN for him on 1/23/08. On 1/31/08 we received Jay's SS card in mail.

Hello Dave, My wife Emily is from Chongqing China. She and I speak fluent Mandarin and Cantonese. We are more than happy and willing to layout the process for Hong...the charge is ZERO. We can even conference call-in with Gino and Lulu (CFL members), also fluent in Mandarin. Clement & Emily

You can find Mr. Yang Jia Hua's contact info here - http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=312486

Yes, go with Mr. Yang and company. They will take good care of your wife. We personally experienced Mr. Yang's wonderful hospitality last March.

I call China from my PC using Yahoo Voice for $0.015 per minute to either land line or cell phone. Yahoo Voice Call History keeps a rolling log of every call you make to your SO or wife in China...which you can use later as proof is needed.

Mr. Yang and companies also took good care of Emily and I during our 10 days stay at GZ last March. A good, honest and humble man his is indeed! Emily and I will pay Mr. Yang a personal visit the next time we stop by GZ for some R&R.

It was a pointless exercise when I went to the infopass appointment at the USCIS field office yesterday. Basically they told me because my application was rejected the first time, the postmark date of 7/28 was considered void/invalid; therefore any subsequent resubmission of the same application referencing the rejected NOA was also considered void/invalid. I think they are making up new rules on the fly while disregarding the official regulation. Those folks simply don't give a damn....very sad but true. This morning I've resent the application but this time I've included a check for $930.00 (Jay is 12 years old). I've got no energy left to fight with faceless bureaucrats behind a government agency that virtually holds no accountability to anyone.

I have an INFOPASS appt at the San Francisco field office tomorrow afternoon. Let's see what they will say this time...

Well after waiting for almost 6 weeks, USCIS sent the entire package back to me with another rejection notice due to wrong fees applied...they are bent on making me pay the new fees for my son's I-485/I-765 applications and disregarding their own rules and regulations! I am inclined to cave-in and just pay the new fees...that exactly what those bloody bureaucrats want people to do - IMO.

The checks were returned together with the NOAs I've scheduled an InfoPass appointment tomorrow morning at 9:30am...I'll see what they have to say! Hi Clement, how did your InfoPass appointment go? Any updates? The officers at the San Francisco USCIS office told me it was a mistake to reject my applications based on the new fees schedule. They said I should resubmit the package with a cover letter highlighting the postmarked date on received date of the package. I did all of the above plus including the USCIS memo/guidelines on applications postmarked before 7/30. Let's see what happens next...

That form stipulates the new fee, even though you filed before 7/30/2007. I used the old form dated - 10/28/05, expires on 09/30/08.

Can anyone remember what was the old application fees for I-485 for children under 14? Anyone has a link to the old USCIS fee schedule?